It was a matter of doubt, however, whether _liten_, the inner body, would suffer injury in the pyre. But this doubt was removed partly by certain formulas, believed to be protective; partly by burning a buck together with the body as compensation to the “flesh-eating fire,” the elementary Agni (the hymns distinguish between the two), so that he should not touch the subtler body of the corpse. Through the combustion, the lower elements were enabled to immediately follow the soul of the deceased, and it was thought that two advantages were gained thereby: First, the second ego of the dead was liberated from its grave-dwelling, which was monstrous if his sleep were disturbed either by craving for nourishment or through the acts of Nirrtis and sorcerers; second, the surviving were relieved from their dread of evil ghosts. CHAPTER II. Man’s Spiritual Body. If we survey the stages of evolution through which humanity hitherto has passed, we find that all peoples, from prehistoric times up to our own days, have believed in a spiritual body which is essential to the soul in a future life. Is humanity then mistaken in this universal manifestation of religious intuition? On this question we need no longer remain uncertain, no longer believe; _we know_ that man possesses such a spiritual body. For many years, even centuries, this has been a fully demonstrated fact, which may be directly observed, and which also has been the subject of scientific research. But what do we mean by spiritual body? The term conveys something of a dim and vague, and at the same time unmistakable suggestion which characterizes all we comprehend by our emotional faculties. Spiritual body means what the words say, a spirituality derived from, or belonging to, the body. But as no spirituality exists which is not individualized or is not a quality of a living being, this spiritual body must be identical with either one single unit or with a multitude of living units. One single unit it cannot be, because this unity would then be identical with the soul, while on the contrary, the spiritual body should be independent, existing _per se_. It remains then a multitude of spiritual units, which is precisely what natural science has proved to be the case, _and these units in man’s spiritual body are identical with the living cells_. Before the discovery of the cell, our knowledge of the human body was confined to such phenomena as could be observed with the naked eye. The organism from that standpoint was necessarily a unit of members and organs whose functions, and even coarser anatomic structure, were beyond any accurate investigation. The elementary parts of the organic tissues cannot, of course, be observed in this stage. They appear first under the microscope and it is therefore with the discovery of this epoch-making instrument that the science of organisms enters into a new era.